Lightning Glare

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A Comedy Trope in which two rivals lock gazes, snarling at each other but not yet at blows, the intensity of their shared enmity manifests as crackling streamers of lightning arcing back and forth between their eyes as sparks begin to fly.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Naruto and Sasuke in Naruto. Sakura and Ino as well. It's parodied with Naruto and Sasuke, the first time they do this Shikamaru bumps into Naruto sending him face first into Sasuke's lips resulting in an Accidental Kiss between the two.

In Mr. Fullswing, Saruno and Kotetsu do this in an early chapter, and Saruno uses the sparks to grill food.

Happens between Ikki and Buccha in Air Gear. It starts out as Ikki giving ramen to Buccha, seemingly innocent... Until onlookers get hit by their killing intent, apparently creating an illusion of them being on fire and words appearing behind their backs.

When Vita and Signum get into an argument after Signum reprimands Vita for throwing her clothes on the floor of a public bath in the first Sound Stage of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, the viewer can hear them shooting lightning glares at each other.

More than a few times on Fruits Basket. Nine times out of ten, it's Kyou and Yuki.

Words Worth: Sharon and Mew exchange one upon realizing they've each slept with Sharon's fiancee, Astral and that they both have feelings for him.

D.Gray-Man: Occurs repeatedly between Allen, who can normally get along with anyone, and the notoriously grumpy Kanda. Even their golems get involved, with Timcanpy and Kanda's golem also engaging in a crackling glare contest of their own as they hover over their respective masters' heads. Until Timcanpy just goes ahead and eats Kanda's golem.

In Pokémon, Misty and Jessie do this in the "Princess vs. Princess" episode.

Bulma and Chi Chi of Dragon Ball Z do this at least twice in the series. Once in the Garlic Jr. Saga when Maron calls them old ladies and they're arguing about their beauty for their ages. Another time is during the "Bojack Unbound" film when they're fighting over which son will win the tournament that is hosted by Hercule. There's also a DBZ trading card called "Bulma and Chi-Chi's Stare Off", which has a picture◊ of them doing this trope in the "Bojack Unbound" film.

Axis Powers Hetalia: When America first introduced England to his alien friend, Tony, it was apparent that the two of them didn't like each other. Apparent to everyone except America, that is.

In Yuru-Yuri, Himawari and Sakurako engage in this feud often, mostly stemming from sexual tension, their competition for class vice president, and Sakurako's immaturity.

In Fairy Tail, this often happens, usually between Natsu and Gray. In flashbacks, Mirajane and Erza also get this.

The use of this trope is conversed in Chapter 2 of Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun. Japan's anti-duelling laws criminalize even just issuing or accepting duel challenges, and the government is keen to use this clause to combat teen crime. Since Nozaki writes manga for the Shōjo (Demographic), any explicit challenges are, as a result, out of the question. Hence, if scenes involving Japanese Delinquents require a duel challenge, they can only deliver it non-verbally through this trope.

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[Denethor] turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smoldering fire, drawn from eye to eye, that might burst suddenly into flame.

Live-Action TV

The Brazilian comedy show CQC uses this as a comedic, computer-inserted (obviously) cliche every time they ask embarrassing questions to the people they interview, and they glare. Of course, half their special effect cliches are anime related...

In Chinese Paladin 3, the two male leads have one of these after simultaneously pushing each other's Berserk Buttons. Played for comedy in this case, because neither actually wants to admit the loss.

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In the Equestria Girls webisode "Queen of Clubs", Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchange an electric glare while their competition is in full swing, showing how serious they are.

Web Comics

Buttlord GT takes it to another level, with Kevin and Snowflake projecting dotted lines from their eyes, which create a little explosion when they meet. For however small the explosion is, it's intense enough for Brad to deem it "the sweetest thing ever".

In El Goonish Shive, Susan and Tedd share a glare here that is intense enough that it probably would have had lightning between their eyes if it were not for the fact that it would have obscured Sarah and Elliot talking in the background. Dan settles for making the growling they make fiery.

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